Masks and transport overhaul to be part of life after lockdown
Documents submitted to Downing Street suggest imminent moves planned to ease Britain’s exit
‘Using masks will be more than a recommendation. It is more of a compulsion for them to be worn in shops’
‘Since we never put the brake on as hard Italy did, the UK can certainly release it in step with Italy’
MINISTERS have begun circulating plans for life after lockdown that include requiring shoppers and commuters to wear cloth masks, and a radical rethink of how public transport operates to keep travellers two metres apart at all times.
The Daily Telegraph has also learnt that garden centres could re-open within a fortnight, and local rubbish tips and recycling centres as early as this weekend, under draft guidance submitted to Downing Street in recent days. The documents suggest imminent moves to ease parts of the lockdown, which has been in place since March 23.
The Government is under pressure to publish a plan for leaving lockdown but has been reluctant to do so – not least over fears it will confuse the public over its core message to remain at home but also because the spread of Covid-19 is far from under control.
The disclosure that guidance is being circulated shows planning for a
“new normal” is well under way. The Telegraph understands that the Department for Transport has begun consulting on how to solve the issue of getting trains and buses, currently pared down to a very basic service, up and running again while ensuring travellers maintain strict social-distancing rules.
One of its key recommendations is that commuters wear cloth face coverings – rather than medical masks – when travelling on buses, trains and the London Underground, and that masks should also be worn in shops. The guidance is a departure from current government advice that there is no scientific need to wear masks unless working in hospitals or care homes.
The new rules will require train operators and other bodies such as Transport for London to clearly mark platforms and carriages with two-metre lines for travellers to keep their distance. Police will be required to implement crowd-control measures with trains, Tube carriages and buses operating at about 50 per cent of normal capacity. New timetables will need to be prepared to allow for an upsurge in workers returning to their jobs.
A source said the urgency of the guidance suggested lockdown could be eased within a fortnight and possiconcerns bly even before May 7 when the Government is legally obliged to review the strict measures.
A Whitehall source said: “The plan for masks will be more than a recommendation. It is more of a compulsion for them to be worn in shops and on public transport.
“On social distancing, transport bosses will need to have two-metre markers in place so people can safely keep their distance.
“This will need British Transport Police to maintain a presence at the entrance to stations to ensure crowd control at the busiest times. The working day will have to be staggered to avoid a single rush hour.”
Police are needed to sign off the measures so that they can manage the expected long queues which are likely to form as homeowners start to clear a backlog of six weeks’ worth of rubbish that was destined for the tip.
There are also plans for an early reopening of garden centres within the next fortnight to allow them to take advantage of the crucial selling period in the weeks leading up to the two May bank holidays.
Otherwise, hundreds of millions of pounds’ worth of plants will have to be thrown away.
The urgency for garden centres to start trading again follows the decision by B&Q to open the doors of its DIY stores which come with garden centres attached.
There is a recognition that could be unfair on smaller, often independent, garden centres, which risk going bust if they miss the planting season.
Business leaders and trade unions have met with ministers in recent days in a series of meetings chaired by Alok Sharma, the business secretary, it was reported last night.
that workers may be fearful to return to their workplace postlockdown were raised and measures such as the introduction of hand sanitiser on public transport were discussed according to The Guardian.
Prof Karol Sikora, a British cancer specialist and former adviser to the World Health Organisation, said that the UK should begin easing lockdown as soon as Monday with the opening of shops, small businesses and garden centres and “see what happens”.
He said: “As long as we don’t see a second wave of the virus then we should plan for full operation by the end of May, including opening schools and even bars and pubs with social distancing.”
Prof Sikora added: “I would be aggressive about it. If we don’t do that more people will die from cancer and heart disease.”
Prof Robert Dingwall, who sits on the Government’s scientific advisory body The New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group, said a series of businesses could be safely opened in coming weeks including shopping centres which have sophisticated air conditioning systems that would severely restrict danger of the spread of the virus.
He said offices could be reopened with safe social distancing. He added that Britain’s insistence on people staying two metres apart was stricter than some other countries including Italy, which requires a metre, and Australia and the Netherlands, where distancing is 1.5 metres.
The announcement on Sunday night by Giuseppe Conte, the Italian Prime Minister, that his country is to begin lifting much of its lockdown with a timetable in place to open everything from restaurants to beauty salons, will put Boris Johnson under pressure to follow suit.
Italy’s lockdown was more strict than the UK’S – with children being forced to stay indoors for example – but Prof Dingwall said: “Since we never put the brake on as hard as Italy, we can certainly release it in step with Italy.”
Italy went into lockdown on March 9 – at a time when it had recorded 97 deaths and 1,797 cases – while the UK announced its own shutdown two weeks later on March 23 when the death toll had reached 54 deaths and reported cases 967. Italy’s worst day for deaths was March 27 when 919 fatalities were recorded, while the UK reported 980 deaths on April 10, exactly a fortnight later.
The latest official figures for Italy show its death toll had dropped to its lowest for some time at 260 with 2,324 new cases, while the UK recorded 41 deaths on April 26 and 4,463 new cases.
Experts warned against full comparisons since Italy’s official death toll covers all deaths including in care homes and the wider community, while the UK is only recording hospital fatalities.
Under Italy’s planned move out of lockdown, citizens can start travelling within a region but not to different ones. Funerals can take place with up to 15 people and athletes can resume training outside the vicinity of their homes.
Italy’s coffee bars and restaurants are expected to reopen on June 1 and so too hairdressers and beauty salons by that date. Many smaller shops have already been allowed to start trading again but more stores will now reopen as well as museums, galleries and libraries from May 18.
Downing Street is also said to be watching closely the progress of the Czech Republic, which has published a detailed timetable for ending lockdown. Unlike the UK, the Prague government introduced its lockdown early and has limited cases to 7,400 and deaths to just 221. By contrast, the UK death toll in hospitals alone now stands at 20,735.
Many shops outside shopping malls are reopening in the Czech Republic after the government brought forward its five-stage lockdown exit plan.